


Meadows of Heaven

by Willowshade



Category: Naruto
Genre: Cold, F/M, Other, Psychological, Snow, intentionally vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 19:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11088867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowshade/pseuds/Willowshade
Summary: "Sakura?"He calls again, this time a raspy voice he barely recognizes as his own breaks the silence.Nobody answered.





	Meadows of Heaven

Wake up, deadboy enter adventure land

 

 

 

Through the window there was a world covered in white.

 

For long moments, he couldn't summon the will to get up, his limbs felt like lead chaining him to the bed. He watched the flecks of white falling outside, the way the morning light fell just short of touching his face.

 

As if invoked by the sight, a familiar feeling gripped his chest. He staggered to his feet, ignoring the weight of his limbs, pushing the heavy blankets away from his chest. Sound of merry laughter filled the white noise in his mind.

 

He dragged himself closer to the widow, bothered by the cold bite against the exposed skin of his arms.

 

He saw them. Theirs was a colorful blur to the white expanse of the scenery, seemingly glowing in their warm spring hues.

 

All of sudden, he couldn't register what they were doing, nor did he seem to want to. All his senses were heightened in observation, on the laughter and smiles and the warmth they exuded. They always glowered, in a way he never would.

 

He pressed his fingers to the glass and felt there were more than a few metres separating them.

 

"Oy, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as soon as he spotted him, waved. "Too bad you are missing this!"

 

A set of green eyes met his. "Oh, good morning Sasuke-kun!" She chimed, jumping around, her feet being swallowed by white softness.

 

"Did you know? It snowed 10 inches of snow yesterd- "

 

 

 

 

 

"-day. It was the strongest nevasca in years." The old man said, his hands stopped just before bringing his steaming cup to his lips.

 

Facing him, Sasuke's eyes were glazed over, his mind stuttering as he was brought back to present time. Reality sank in slowly, but merciless as the strong gush of the wind cutting against his face, the cold that seeped through his too thin clothes.

 

"Hey, kid, you don't look so good." The old man told him, frowning.

 

Sasuke said nothing in response, but to place two golden coins on the carriage conter.

 

The sound of the metal against the wood left no room for further questioning. Wordlessly, he took a dark scarf from the old's man display and wrapped it around his neck, feeling no less cold.

 

His was an interesting shop. Two large snow horses with pushed what seemed to be the old man living quarters as his only short of income. The back of the carried was an opened in compartment that showcased animals pelts, knitted mantles, scarves and other clothing to better navigate in the wintertime.

 

"And those, too." He pointed at a heavy, dark coat. When it was handed to him, he quickly wore it, tucking the scarf inside its colar.

 

He saw the man eyeing with curiosity the empty sleeve in his left side, his gaze also seemed to linger in the bandages covering one of his eyes from the view.

 

"The war." He supplied curtly, before the incoming question.

 

The old man sighed. "So young." Hearing the pity in his tone almost made Sasuke flinch.

 

He'd always be caught off the guard by the open understand and compassion he would find in common folk.

 

He was aware that he looked like an invalid wanderer, perhaps that was why the man offered him a lift. Sasuke entertained the notion of refusing. But then he looked at the road covered in snow before them, at the way if twisted and turned in the hills bellow hiding from his view.

 

His gaze ascended to the mountain tops, tall as a wall and stretching infinitely to the murky grey sky until disappearing in mist.

 

 

 

 

"How is it? Does it hurt?" He glanced at her, her face lit by the green glow of her chackra.

 

There was something in her tone that wasn't just medical, and it brought a tightness to his throat.

 

"Sometimes, yes."

 

All the time.

 

He wasn't quite sure what she was referring to, but they weren't talking just about his arm, or the lack of there of.

 

She looked at him, and her heavy stare pinned him in place.

 

I can make it go away, he could hear her voice perfectly in his head, even if the words never left her lips.

 

Stay, he hears again, and he hates this voice that whispers temptation in his ears, how it sounds like hers, sometimes like his own tone.

 

Her eyes shift, suddenly. His breath stops as she brings her palm to his forehead, gently brushing his locks away.

 

"You need to take care of yourself." She said, with a sight, as she withdrew her comforting touch.

 

"It seems you've got- "

 

 

 

 

"-a fever-" He captured the wrist coming towards him in a flat snap of his hand.

 

The briskness of the movement surprised the old woman whose hand was stopped before it could make contact with his forehead.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She laughed, showing missing teeth, as she steps back. "It seems I awoke you, son."

 

Sasuke releases her rugged hand, its texture papery thin, as if it burned him. His head throbs in a disorientating way, making his view swing. The movement of the carriage going down an slope only worsens the impression, together with the trinkets hanging from the ceiling.

 

"I apologize." He mutters, his voice coming like a raspy.

 

When he tries to speak he realizes he can feel his throat sore and tight. He swallows in dry and it hurts, telling him an infection is settling. Feeling too tired and cold, Sasuke rests his back against the pelt of an animal, wrapping himself against his coat as if his life depends on it.

 

He can hear the wind picking up outside, howling like an animal in the valleys of the mountain.

 

"What's wrong with me?" He manages, slowly, as he accepts a cup from the old woman.

 

She shakes her head.

 

 

 

 

"Oy, Sasuke! Can you get up?" Sasuke blinks to the whiteness, annoyed as soon as he hears Naruto's voice.

 

Suddenly, there's a warmth to his side.

 

And he feels her smell recognizing Sakura before he can actually see her. He realizes her arm is underneath his back and she leans over him, as if unsure she should host his torso up or not.

 

"You hit your head." She tells him, voice very careful.

 

"Did I?" He replies, pushing himself into a seated position. He breaths out, and feels it condensate against his lips.

 

It's cold. He blinks, and see only whiteness. He blinks again, trying to adjust his view, but he keeps seeing only snow.

 

He turns to face Sakura, knowing her position by her support of his back, but he can't see her either.

 

"Sakura..." He breathes, growing panic in his voice. "I can't see anything..."

 

"Calm down." She tells her, sounding way too clinical. "This is a common effect of the medicine."

 

He relaxes marginally. He trusts Sakura's skills.

 

But something doesn't make sense, she didn't have that knowledge yet. She just learned medical ninjutsu after he left the village to train under Orochimaru, didn't she?

 

"How old are you?" He asks her, dread pilling in his stomach and he doesn't know why. He thinks it's too cold, too unreasonably cold to be in a hospital. Thankfully she's stills at his side.

 

"What, I'm 18, just like you." She replies, humor in her voice. The answer makes him very still. She shouldn't be older than 12. Weren't they all in a mission in the land of snow?

 

He had just fallen out from the top of a three, hadn't he?

 

Or it was a memory?

 

"Sakura." He calls. "What is wrong with me?" He articulates, reaching his arm to grab hers.

 

He realizes that now she sat on his lap, and although he can't see her, he can feel her perfectly. The slope of her tights against his, the warmth she seems to irradiate.

 

"Shh. Everything is going to be OK." She tells him, pushing his head slowly to rest against her chest, her chin resting over his hair as her arms envelop him.

 

He returns the embrace with his only arm, clutching at her side.

 

Nothing feels more real than this feeling.

 

 

 

 

"I missed you." She tells, as she smiles.

 

When she smiles the world stops falling apart and that is scary in itself.

 

She's dressed with a long and flowing red dress, her lips painted the same color. It matches her hair that lightly brushes her shoulders. The fabric molds against her frame like it's a second skin.

 

He looks at her, and it's almost too much. He rubs his eyes, trying to adjust to the sight. When his hands leaves his eyes, he sees that they are sat in a open greenery, she no longer wears the red dress, and instead uses her hospital clothes.

 

She lazily looks in his direction. "Aren't you forgetting something important?" She says, not unkind.

 

Is he?

 

Sasuke can't seem to think of anything other than her. Is there anything else worth thinking of at this point?

 

He closes the distance between them, and it's so easy the way that she closes her eyes and let him press her against him. She feels so warmth against his lips and he wants to drown in it.

 

He holds her as if his afraid that she's going to disappear out of thin air. Perhaps now he finally understand how she felt when he returned to Konoha. All those careful looks, serving to validating his presence as real and tangible.

 

"Sakura." He sights against her neck, breaking the kiss to hold her close against him. His senses seems amplified because he can hear his racing heartbeat, the wind slowly brushing the grass against heir legs, the softness of her skin.

 

"I missed you too." He confesses.

 

But missing isn't the correct word of choice. He can't miss something that he never had.

 

But hadn't she always been his? All along?

 

 

 

 

No.

 

Not like this, not in a way he feels so deprived of her closeness.

 

They are in the hospital, again.

 

Maybe Sasuke never left, and he's still stuck in the bed looking at nothing, as Sakura peels apples for him. 

 

"How long has it been?"

 

For a moment he doesn't know who asked the question, if it was him or her.

 

He looks at her eyes and see her serious expression. Something is wrong.

 

"I'm sorry I took so long." He apologizes, out of habit, as he thinks just touch touch touch touch me. Makes it go away.

 

Soon enough, her hands glows green and she places them lightly against his naked torso and over the stub of his arm.

 

Warmth irradiate to his skin in the contact, and his thoughts numb. 

 

"If you keep like this you're really going to die, Sasuke-kun." She comments, as she would talk about the weather.

 

He moans against his throat, he has simply no idea of what she's talking about.

 

"Look. Look at me." She demands, suddenly.

 

Sasuke can't open his eyes. If Sakura's with him than everything eventually will be okay.

 

 

 

 

His head hurt, the pain irradiated from his left eye.

 

He shut his lids very tightly, clutching at his forehead as it felt like it was being cracked open. And he was so cold and tired.

 

When was the last time he actually felt warm?

 

"Sakura?"

 

He meant to call, uncertain, but nothing leaves his mouth other than a sudden fit of wet cough. It shakes his frame and makes his eyes water as he coughs like he'll never stop. Eventually it ends, after too long.

 

He lets his back fall in exhaustion, and it hits soft cushions of a bed, as he catches his breath.

 

"Sakura?" He calls again, this time a raspy voice he barely recognizes as his own breaks the silence.

 

Nobody answered.

 

Sasuke opened his eyes, not sure if he was more afraid that his sight was damaged and gone forever or that he might not see her there.

 

In the end the sinking feeling in his guts wasn't wrong. Instead of seeing the pink-haired girl by his bed-side as she should - as he wanted to - all he saw was an empty chair.

 

He wasn't in Konoha hospital either. He was inside a small room of wooden walls, miles away from home.

 

It was dark, almost pitch black, what told him it was night. Outside, the wind howled, and the mountain seemed alive. Maybe coming this far and high was a mistake. What was he aiming for anyways? Reach closest to heaven? Or it was hell?

 

Urging himself to focus past the pain, and the terribly feeling in his bones, he could spot a wet cloth fallen to his side, and a bucket filled with vomit sitting in the foot of his bed.

 

Shit. He thinks, very aware that all this feels so wrong. 

 

He takes his single hand to his forehead - it's burning hot, but he feels so cold.

 

His arm shakes as he settles it against the heavy covers. He swallows slowly. He can't remember how he got there and what's happening to him. 

 

He feels very confused but his brain lack energy to actually try to make a sense of his situation.

 

A growing feeling of helplessness grabs him as he goes for yet another cough fit.

 

 

 

 

He wavers in and out of unconsciousness. Sometimes he sees Sakura, but it's very fleeting, and each time more unsettling.

 

Because he now can tell it's not real, most of the time he knows it's either a dream or an hallucination. And although it's hard to keep track of the time passing, he can distinguish reality from his feverish state.

 

Because in reality he never feels that warmth. 

 

 

 

 

"Here, take the medicine." The old woman pushes a cup into his hands. 

 

Sasuke drinks it, frowning at the terrible taste.

 

It might be the nth cup he had of that and it does nothing to alleviate his state.

 

 

 

 

Things shouldn't be like this, he can't help but to think.

 

I can't die at a place like this.

 

 

 

 

He has things left to do. He hasn't finished his redemption. And he wants to see her.

 

 

 

 

 

"You're back." She shouts, happiness in her eyes.

 

"Yes." Sasuke thinks. 

 

She comes to him, and he holds her close - and nothing else matters.

 

 

Here, weary traveler, rest your wand

Sleep the journey from your eyes 

**Author's Note:**

> \---  
> Lyrics and title are from Nightwish.


End file.
